Royals ink three more Draft picks

By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com

KANSAS CITY -- The Royals have signed 23 of their 42 picks from the First-Year Player Draft with the addition of three more players on Tuesday night.

The club signed outfielder Brandon Thomasson (ninth-round pick from Tennessee Tech), left-hander Nick Green (10th round pick from the University of Utah) and left-handed pitcher Brandon Thomas (24th-round pick) from San Diego State.

The first-round selection, left-handed pitcher Brandon Finnegan of TCU, is playing in the College World Series. The Horned Frogs will meet Texas Tech on Sunday.

Moustakas hopes homer gives him boost

KANSAS CITY -- A few inches more to the right and Mike Moustakas would have had just a long foul ball instead of a home run in Tuesday night's 9-5 win over the Indians.

The drive hit the outside of the foul pole for a two-run homer -- Moustakas' first blast since returning from his 10-day stay with Triple-A Omaha.

"I was just looking for a good pitch," he said. "I was able to get one later in the count and I was able to keep it fair -- barely."

Moustakas' battle to get his hitting in full gear is ongoing, but the home run -- his fifth -- was expected to give him a boost. He was able to keep it going in Wednesday's 4-1 win with a 2-for-4 day.

Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon also hit their third and seventh homers, respectively, in Tuesday's win. Home runs have been coming more slowly for the Royals this year than any other team in the Majors.

"It all wears on them a little," manager Ned Yost said. "They all come into the year with expectations and goals. They know in their mind what they're capable of doing, and when it doesn't happen it does wear on them a little bit.

"But they've got experience knowing the exact same thing happened last year and, at the end of the year, their home run totals were up. So they know they're capable of doing it. It kept them a little more saner than it did at this time last year."

Around this time last year, after 64 team games, Moustakas had four home runs, Gordon six and Hosmer two. When the season ended, Moustakas had 12, Gordon 20 and Hosmer 17.

Crow shaky but effective finishing off win

KANSAS CITY -- Aaron Crow had a rocky time in the ninth inning of Tuesday night's 9-5 win over the Indians, but he accomplished his goal -- keeping closer Greg Holland in the bullpen.

"Your job there is not to let Holly come in the game," manager Ned Yost said. "That's the most important thing, just don't bring Holly in the game."

Crow, after the Indians opened the ninth with three straight hits and closed the gap to 9-4, got the next three outs to end the game. One was a sacrifice fly, but one more baserunner and Holland would have been waved in.

Crow also successfully ended the eighth inning in relief. That kept set-up man Wade Davis out of the game, too.

"It wouldn't have been a bad thing to use Wade and Holly because we have the off-day [Thursday], but to have them completely fresh for today is a good thing," Yost said before Wednesday's game against the Indians.

Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.